The trade group representing reverse mortgage lenders is launching a lobbying and public relations campaign today that it hopes will reverse perceptions on and off the Hill that it&rsquo;s an industry that preys on seniors.

&ldquo;We&rsquo;re proud of what we do,&rdquo; said Peter Bell, president of the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re highly misunderstood.&rdquo;

The effort, called &ldquo;Borrow With Confidence,&rdquo; comes as the industry and its critics await a study from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The review, which is set for a mid-July release, was mandated by the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation.

&ldquo;We believe we have a very useful service,&rdquo; Bell added. &ldquo;But because of the lack of understanding, a lot of people who could benefit from it,don&rsquo;t pursue it.&rdquo;

Reverse mortgages allow people 62 and older to take out a loan on the equity they own in their home. Unlike a home equity line of credit, homeowners don&rsquo;t make regular payments and lenders only get repaid when the borrowers sell their home or die.

The campaign touts the industry&rsquo;s transparency and consumer protection measures and offers a road map to the loans, including potential fees, at the newly revamped ReverseMortage.org.Bell said it highlights that reverse mortgage lenders are increasingly &ldquo;consumer centric&rdquo; and that the industry recognized that it needed to take steps to make sure consumers were comfortable with its products.

The price tag for the campaign is $500,000 to $750,000. The NRMLA typically has not been a big spender when it comes to K Street. Last year, it reported $175,000 in federal lobbying expenses. It has farmed out work to Fennell Consulting, David Horne LLC and Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications.

According to the &ldquo;Borrow With Confidence&rdquo; campaign talking points, the group expects the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau&rsquo;s report to be &ldquo;generally positive. This government relations campaign is an effort to give context to the report.&rdquo; The talking points add that if the report includes &ldquo;exaggerations or misrepresentations, we will aggressively work to correct them.&rdquo;

The messaging blitz might do little to convince skeptics, who have already raised concerns about reverse mortgage companies&rsquo; advertising campaigns, which sometimes feature aging Hollywood figures such as Henry Winkler, best known as Fonzie from &ldquo;Happy Days.&rdquo;

&ldquo;We&rsquo;ve seen an uptick in the use of celebrity spokesmen ... and that&rsquo;s troublesome,&rdquo; said Norma Garcia, senior attorney and manager of financial services programs for Consumers Union.

She said reverse mortgages serve a purpose but should be considered a niche product for people who have no other financial options. The star-studded ads, make the mortgages sound like a product for all seniors, she said.

&ldquo;It has to be a very serious decision. You need to go in with your eyes open,&rdquo; Garcia added. &ldquo;Not if your eyes were sparkling by some celebrity who had you dazzling.&rdquo;

Seniors lobby AARP supports a Department of Housing and Urban Development program with which the majority of reverse mortgage lenders comply. But in testimony last month before a House Financial Services subcommittee, Lori Trawinski, a senior strategic policy adviser with AARP, said: &ldquo;Some advertisements may inadvertently create the impression that a reverse mortgage is a federal benefit rather than a financial product.&rdquo;

Consumers Union and some Members of Congress have called for preloan counseling sessions to take place face-to-face. That&rsquo;s something Bell says the industry opposes because it would make it more difficult for seniors, who might not live close to a certified counseling center or who might want to include family members who live in other states. The HUD program already requires a counseling session that can be done by phone.

&ldquo;Reverse mortgages can be a critical tool for seniors to help pay off debt or simply ease the strains of monthly expenses,&rdquo; said Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), ranking member of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity, at the hearing last month. He added that &ldquo;strong consumer protections are essential to the success of this product.&rdquo;